The list of must-see shows in Europe this month is topped by Adele, perhaps not surprisingly. But for rock fans not likely to be impressed by her melodious ballads, there’s plenty more on offer – from a very different female star in Grimes; to Muses’s space rock; the raw chords of the 1975 and Wolf Alice; and the all-out sonic attack of the Jesus and Mary Chain.Wolf Alice, with NME, ITunes and Festival Awards, remains one of the hottest young bands around. Dates throughout the UK and Ireland this month, with four nights at the Forum March 24-26.Whether Adele, the world’s most successful pop artist, is worth the £24,000 being offered online for a ticket is one thing. What you will get – based on first-hand experience of the first show of the world tour in Belfast on Monday - is a voice that seemingly needs no amplification, a selection of ballads with the loyal audience knowing every word, and some spectacular staging. Her Dublin and Manchester dates are followed by six days at London’s 02 from March 15, with more in Glasgow and Birmingham this month. The Jesus and Mary Chain is just about as different to Adele as one can get. They still make a feedback racket like someone drilling through the wall at you with a power drill. Under all that distortion, like My Bloody Valentine, these are some sweet tunes, but they are well disguised by the sonic attack. At the Forum, London, on March 11 and Manchester on March 12.Grimes made one of last year’s better albums, and she has been endlessly talked of as a next big thing. She started off impressing critics more than the record-buying public, throwing in as many ideas on top of the electropop base as to be overwhelming. Now she has slowed down just a little, with some looser songs onstage, which make a better case for her young talent. At Le Trianon Paris on March 4 and at the O2 Academy Brixton on March 10.Muse is still on the road, supporting the “Drones” album, which gives an edge to its space rock and offers a concept variously seen as ambitious and pretentious. This didn’t stop it picking up a Grammy for Best Album at the 2016 ceremony. At Bercy Arena, Paris, March 4, with other dates during the month in Amsterdam and Brussels. Muse is in London on April 3 onward with shows at the O2 Arena.The 1975’s album boasts the lovely title “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It.” The sophomore collection follows the Manchester quartet’s self-titled million-selling debut and adds new color to its monochrome visions. At the O2 Academy Brixton on March 4 through 9, with dates later in the month across the UK and then moving to Dublin, Zurich and Brussels with Olympia Paris on March 31. For more, click on the slideshow
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